Mechanism to trigger adaptive transmission for vulnerable road users (vru)

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are provided. Operations thereof include sending, by a first system and to a user equipment, an activation notification that activates a dangerous area and causes the user equipment to increase a reporting granularity corresponding to a location of the user equipment. The dangerous area corresponds to an area that includes a vehicle operating therein. The reporting granularity is increased relative to a first reporting granularity. Operations include receiving, from the user equipment, location reporting data that is provided at the increased granularity and sending, to a second system, a first notification that corresponds to determining that the VRU will be in the dangerous area.

RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/673,893, filed May 19, 2018,entitled “A MECHANISM TO TRIGGER ADAPTIVE TRANSMISSION FOR VULNERABLEROAD USERS (VRU),” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to notifying a user equipmentoperating in a wireless communication system to change accuracy andintensity of positioning measurements and the reporting thereof.

BACKGROUND

Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), which includes pedestrians, wheelchairusers, cyclists, motorcyclists, and so on, encompass as many as 29% ofthe total amount of road fatalities within the European Union (EU),which corresponds to approximately 7000 VRU fatalities per year. Theselarge number of tragic accidents can be addressed by deploying sensorson the vehicle, by deploying road infrastructure (e.g., sensors,cameras) at dangerous locations and delivering awareness notificationsto vehicles, and/or by using smartphones/sensors on a user equipment(UE) of the VRU as a connected sensor and delivering notifications tovehicles. For example, anonymization might be done between a VRU CloudSystem and OEM Cloud System. The position of the VRU is reported to VRUCloud System, such that a vehicle (VEH) can be notified of the risk ofcollision with the VRU 102.

A VRU with a user equipment (UE) can be tracked by using the GNSS(Global Navigation Satellite Systems) within the UE, such as GPS (GlobalPositioning System), GLONASS, Beidou or Galileo. This tracking of theposition of the UE can be done in a VRU cloud application, such thatpredictions can be calculated of possible future positions of the VRU.The position of the UE then needS to be transmitted from the UE to VRUcloud application e.g. by using a cellular network such as GSM, WCDMA,LTE, NR or any other wireless communication network.

Providing the VRU Cloud System with detailed position information mightdrain the battery of the UE. This may be due to activation of the GPSreceiver and deriving the position from received GNSS signals. Also,transmitting these positioning measurements to the network consumesenergy in the UE. Moreover, the frequent transmissions of thesepositioning measurements to the network can easily congest the networkand degrade resource utilization.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, a method ofoperating a first system includes sending, to a user equipment, anactivation notification that activates a dangerous area and causes theuser equipment to increase a reporting granularity corresponding to alocation of the user equipment, the dangerous area corresponding to anarea that includes a vehicle operating therein, thus the reportinggranularity is increased relative to a first reporting granularity. Themethod also includes receiving, from the user equipment, locationreporting data that is provided at the increased granularity. The methodfurther includes sending, to a second system, a first notification thatcorresponds to determining that the VRU will be in the dangerous area.

According to some other embodiments of inventive concepts, a method ofoperating a network node includes communicating, using a first networkapplication, with a user equipment, to cause the user equipment toactivate a dangerous area and to increase a reporting granularitycorresponding to a location of the user equipment, the dangerous areacorresponding to an area that includes a vehicle operating therein, thereporting granularity is increased relative to a first reportinggranularity. The method of operating the network node also includesreceiving, from the user equipment, location reporting data that isprovided at the increased granularity. The method of operating thenetwork node further includes communicating, between the first networkapplication and a second network application, a first notification thatcorresponds to determining that the user equipment will be in thedangerous area, the second network application being configured to senda vehicle notification to the vehicle to avoid a collision.

According to some other embodiments of inventive concepts, a method ofoperating a user equipment, UE, that includes communicating with a firstsystem via a radio access network. The method of operating a UE furtherincludes increasing a frequency at which a GNSS is accessed responsiveto the user equipment entering a dangerous area, the dangerous areacorresponding to an area that includes a vehicle operating therein,wherein an increase in GNSS access frequency provides an increasedlocation data.

Some embodiments are directed to a user equipment, UE, that includes atransceiver that is configured to communicate with a first system via aradio access network and a processor that is coupled to the transceiverand that is configured to perform operations including increasing afrequency at which a Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS, isaccessed responsive to the user equipment being proximate to and/orentering a dangerous area, the dangerous area corresponding to an areathat includes a vehicle operating therein, wherein an increase in GNSSaccess frequency provides an increased location data.

Some embodiments are directed to a method of operating a user equipment,UE. The method may include operations including communicating with afirst system via a radio access network, and increasing a frequency atwhich a Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS, is accessed responsiveto the user equipment entering a dangerous area, the dangerous areacorresponding to an area that includes a vehicle operating therein,wherein an increase in GNSS access frequency provides an increasedlocation data.

Some embodiments are directed to a method of operating a network node.The method includes operation including communicating, using a firstnetwork application, with a user equipment, to cause the user equipmentto activate a dangerous area and to increase a reporting granularitycorresponding to a location of the user equipment, the dangerous areacorresponding to an area that includes a vehicle operating therein, thereporting granularity is increased relative to a first reportinggranularity, receiving, from the user equipment, location reporting datathat is provided at the increased granularity, and communicating,between the first network application and a second network application,a first notification that corresponds to determining that the userequipment will be in the dangerous area, the second network applicationbeing configured to send a vehicle notification to the vehicle to avoida collision.

Some embodiments are directed to a first communication node thatincludes a network interface that is configured to communicate with asecond communication node and a user equipment via an access network anda processor that is coupled to the network interface and is configuredto communicate, using a first network application, with a userequipment, to cause the user equipment to activate a dangerous area andto increase a reporting granularity corresponding to a location of theuser equipment, the dangerous area corresponding to an area thatincludes a vehicle operating therein, the reporting granularity isincreased relative to a first reporting granularity, to receive, fromthe user equipment, location reporting data that is provided at theincreased granularity, and to communicate, between the first networkapplication and a second network application, a first notification thatcorresponds to determining that the user equipment will be in thedangerous area, the second network application being configured to senda vehicle notification to the vehicle to avoid a collision.

Some embodiments are directed to a method of operating a first system.Operations according to the method include sending, to a user equipment,an activation notification that activates a dangerous area and causesthe user equipment to increase a reporting granularity corresponding toa location of the user equipment, the dangerous area corresponding to anarea that includes a vehicle operating therein, wherein the vehiclecomprises a vulnerable road user, VRU, thus the reporting granularity isincreased relative to a first reporting granularity. Operations furtherinclude receiving, from the user equipment, location reporting data thatis provided at the increased granularity, and sending, to a secondsystem, a first notification that corresponds to determining that theVRU will be in the dangerous area.

Some embodiments are directed to a first communication node thatincludes a network interface that is configured to communicate with asecond communication node and with a user equipment via one or moreaccess networks, and a processor that is coupled to the networkinterface and is configured to perform any operations described herein.

Some embodiments are directed to a first communication node thatincludes respective modules that are adapted to perform any operationsherein.

Some embodiments are directed to a user equipment, UE, that is adaptedto perform any operations described herein.

Some embodiments are directed to a computer program product thatincludes a tangible computer readable storage medium including computerreadable program code embodied in the medium that when executed by atleast one processor causes the at least one processor to performoperations. Operations include communicating with a first system via aradio access network, and increasing a frequency at which a GlobalNavigation Satellite System, GNSS, is accessed responsive to the userequipment entering a dangerous area, the dangerous area corresponding toan area that includes a vehicle operating therein, wherein an increasein GNSS access frequency provides an increased location data.

Some embodiments are directed to a computer program product including atangible computer readable storage medium including computer readableprogram code embodied in the medium that when executed by at least oneprocessor causes the at least one processor to perform operationsincluding communicating, using a first network application, with a userequipment, to cause the user equipment to activate a dangerous area andto increase a reporting granularity corresponding to a location of theuser equipment, the dangerous area corresponding to an area thatincludes a vehicle operating therein, the reporting granularity isincreased relative to a first reporting granularity, receiving, from theuser equipment, location reporting data that is provided at theincreased granularity, and communicating, between the first networkapplication and a second network application, a first notification thatcorresponds to determining that the user equipment will be in thedangerous area, the second network application being configured to senda vehicle notification to the vehicle to avoid a collision.

Some embodiments are directed to a computer program product foroperating a first system, including a tangible computer readable storagemedium comprising computer readable program code embodied in the mediumthat when executed by at least one processor causes the at least oneprocessor to perform operations including sending, to a user equipment,an activation notification that activates a dangerous area and causesthe user equipment to increase a reporting granularity corresponding toa location of the user equipment, the dangerous area corresponding to anarea that includes a vehicle operating therein, wherein the vehiclecomprises a vulnerable road user, VRU, thus the reporting granularity isincreased relative to a first reporting granularity, receiving, from theuser equipment, location reporting data that is provided at theincreased granularity, and sending, to a second system, a firstnotification that corresponds to determining that the VRU will be in thedangerous area.

By intelligently controlling the reporting granularity as discussedabove, battery consumption in the UE association with the VRU may bereduced as well as a load of a communication system serving the UE.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in a constitute apart of this application, illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments ofinventive concepts. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating an example first and secondsystem in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive conceptsdescribed herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a dangerous area that defines aplurality of dangerous region portions in accordance with someembodiments of the inventive concepts described herein;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a first systemin accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts describedherein;

FIG. 4 is a system diagram illustrating an example first system sending,to a user equipment, an activation notification that activates adangerous area in accordance with some embodiments of the inventiveconcepts described herein;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of sending a secondconfiguration messages to the user equipment in accordance with someembodiments of the inventive concepts described herein;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of sending the activationnotification that activates the dangerous area responsive to detectingthat the user equipment is proximate to the dangerous area in accordancewith some embodiments of the inventive concepts described herein;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of sending, to the userequipment, predefined dangerous zones that include the dangerous area inaccordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts describedherein;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a network nodein accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts describedherein;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a userequipment in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive conceptsdescribed herein;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a userequipment to increase a frequency at which a GNNSS is accessed inaccordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts describedherein;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a userequipment to activate the dangerous area response to receiving anotification in accordance with some embodiments of the inventiveconcepts described herein;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a userequipment to activate the dangerous area and increase a reportinggranularity notification in accordance with some embodiments of theinventive concepts described herein;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a userequipment to deactivate the dangerous area and decrease a reportinggranularity in accordance with some embodiments of the inventiveconcepts described herein;

FIG. 14 is a system diagram illustrating an example user equipmentreceiving a notification directly from a vehicle to activate thedangerous zone in accordance with some embodiments of the inventiveconcepts described herein;

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of an activated dangerous area inaccordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts describedherein;

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a planned route of a vehicle in theactivated dangerous area in accordance with some embodiments of theinventive concepts described herein;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of components of an example user equipmentaccording to some embodiments of inventive concepts described herein;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an example node according to someembodiments of inventive concepts described herein;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a user equipment in accordance with someembodiments

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in accordancewith some embodiments;

FIG. 22 is a block diagram of a telecommunication network connected viaan intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a basestation with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communicationsystem including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 25 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communicationsystem including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 26 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communicationsystem including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments; and

FIG. 27 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communicationsystem including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Inventive concepts will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples of embodimentsof inventive concepts are shown. Inventive concepts may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of present inventive concepts to those skilled inthe art. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not mutuallyexclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to bepresent/used in another embodiment.

The following description presents various embodiments of the disclosedsubject matter. These embodiments are presented as teaching examples andare not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosed subjectmatter. For example, certain details of the described embodiments may bemodified, omitted, or expanded upon without departing from the scope ofthe described subject matter.

Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), which includes pedestrians, wheelchairusers, cyclists, motorcyclists, and so on, encompass as many as 29% ofthe total amount of road fatalities within the European Union (EU),which corresponds to approximately 7000 VRU fatalities per year. Theselarge number of tragic accidents can be addressed with the followingactive VRU protection approaches:

-   -   1. By deploying sensors on the vehicle.    -   2. By deploying road infrastructure (e.g., sensors, cameras) at        dangerous locations and delivering awareness notifications to        vehicles.    -   3. By using smartphones/sensors on a user equipment (UE) 102 of        the VRU as a connected sensor and delivering notifications to        vehicles, for example, see illustration in FIG. 1. Here, an        anonymization might be done between a VRU Cloud System 104 and        OEM Cloud System 108. The position of the VRU 102 is reported to        VRU Cloud System 104, such that a vehicle (VEH) 106 can be        notified of the risk of collision with the VRU 102.

A VRU with a user equipment (UE) can be tracked by using the GNSS(Global Navigation Satellite Systems) within the UE, such as GPS (GlobalPositioning System), GLONASS, Beidou or Galileo. This tracking of theposition of the UE can be done in a VRU cloud application, such thatpredictions can be calculated of possible future positions of the VRU.The position of the UE then need to be transmitted from the UE to VRUcloud application e.g. by using a cellular network such as GSM, WCDMA,LTE, NR or any other wireless communication network.

Providing the VRU Cloud System 104 with detailed position informationmight drain the battery of the UE 102. This is due to activation of theGPS receiver and deriving the position from received GNSS signals. Also,transmitting these positioning measurements to the network consumesenergy in the UE 102. Moreover, the frequent transmissions of thesepositioning measurements to the network can easily congest the networkand degrade resource utilization.

To reduce battery consumption and traffic load, the frequenttransmissions of positioning measurements can happen only when the VRUis present at certain area, which is considered as a dangerous area or adangerous zone. In general, a dangerous area or zone is defined wherevervehicles might be present such as roads and parking areas, for example,as illustrated FIG. 2. Typical examples of dangerous area includeintersections, crossing zones, blind corner, etc. Furthermore, thisdangerous area can be divided into smaller areas as a space discretizedgrid. Only a coarse position is needed when the VRU is outside thedangerous zone. However, this coarse position should be accurate enoughsuch as to be able to detect whenever a VRU is entering the dangerouszone.

A coarse positioning of the VRU can be achieved by activating the GNSSon a low frequently basis. Reporting of a position from a UE 102associated with the VRU to the VRU Cloud System 104 can be activatedonly when the UE 102 associated with the VRU enters a dangerous zone. Inthis case, a database of dangerous zones can be stored in the UE 102associated with the VRU. This database can be updated whenever the UE102 associated with the VRU moves between geographical areas.

Whenever a VRU is entering a dangerous zone, a more fine-grainedpositioning may be needed such that the vehicle 106 can take properactions depending on the risk for collisions with the VRU. A positioningresolution of decimeter or down to centimeter is useful for reliableavoidance of collisions and at the same time avoiding a defensivemanaging of the vehicles. The vehicles might be fully autonomous orpartly manually operated, where the driver should be given properwarnings of collision risks with VRUs in the latter case.

Since a dangerous area or zone is usually defined wherever vehiclesmight be present such as roads and parking areas, a substantial part ofa geographical area, at least in urban areas, can be classified asdangerous zones. Furthermore, these dangerous areas should cover asignificant region around the areas in which vehicles are possible. Thisis to get several position measurements to be used in predictions offuture positions of the VRU. Also, a safety margin is needed of theposition for a VRU entering a region with vehicles. This leads tounnecessarily frequent activations of GNSS and transmissions ofpositions from a UE 102 associated with the VRU to the VRU Cloud System104, resulting in high battery consumption and network congestion.

Embodiments described herein generally consist of mechanisms forconfiguring the intensity of transmissions of positions from a VRU UE,e.g., to trigger a granularity of the positioning of the VRU UE. Morespecifically, the configuration of the intensity may depend on thefollowing factors:

-   -   The status of the relevant dangerous zone, i.e., activated or        deactivated, as well as the location of the VRU.    -   Whether the network is able to determine a good enough position        based on network measurements only.

Embodiments described herein also consist of mechanisms to trigger theactivation/deactivation of the dangerous zone, e.g., the dangerous zoneis activated if a vehicle is inside or approaching it.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method of operating a first system in accordancewith embodiments of the inventive concepts described herein. Forexample, FIG. 3 illustrates the method of operating the first systemincludes sending 302, to a user equipment, an activation notificationthat activates a dangerous area and causes the user equipment toincrease a reporting granularity corresponding to a location of the userequipment, the dangerous area corresponding to an area that includes avehicle operating therein, thus the reporting granularity is increasedrelative to a first reporting granularity. For example, FIG. 4illustrates a VRU Cloud System 104 sends to UE VRU 102 and activationnotification that activates a dangerous area (not shown) and causes theUE VRU 101 to increase a reporting granularity corresponding to alocation of UE VRU 102, the dangerous area corresponding to an area thatincludes a vehicle UE VEH 106 operating therein.

For simplicity, FIG. 4 illustrates VRU Cloud System 104 comprised in asingle Node 100 of a communication network. In accordance withembodiments, the first system may comprise a single node or may bedistributed across a plurality of nodes of a communication system. Forexample, Node 100 may comprise a node or a plurality of nodes of aCloud-RAN (C-RAN) or a Centralized-RAN network. In another example, Node100 may comprise one or more relay nodes, wireless gateway nodes,self-backhauled nodes, and access nodes (e.g. eNB) of a communicationnetwork.

Returning to FIG. 3, the method of operating the first system includesreceiving 302, from the user equipment, location reporting data that isprovided at the increased granularity. For example, FIG. 4 illustratesthat VRU Cloud System 104 receives, from UE VRU 102, location reportingdata that is provided at the increased granularity. FIG. 3 furtherillustrates that the method includes sending 304, to a second system, afirst notification that corresponds to determining that the VRU will bein the dangerous area. For example, FIG. 4 illustrates VRU Cloud System104 sends to OEM Cloud System 108 a first notification that correspondsto determining that the UE VRU 102 will be in the dangerous area.

In accordance with some embodiments, the first configuration messagefurther causes the user equipment to increase a frequency that a globalnavigation satellite system, GNSS, is accessed. Also in accordance withembodiments, the network sends a configuration message to the UE 102 toactivate a dangerous area. For example, if the UE 102 detects that it isclose, or inside this dangerous area, then it activates the GNSS of theUE 102 in a more frequent manner and also reports its position morefrequently as a “configuration of positioning reporting rate orfrequency”, as shown in FIG. 4. In accordance with some embodiments, themethod of operating the first system may include anonymizing the firstnotification to remove VRU specific data therefrom, wherein ananonymized first notification is sent to the vehicle via the secondsystem, before sending the first notification to the second system. Forexample, FIG. 4 illustrates that the VRU anonymized notifications aresent from VRU Cloud System 104 to OEM Cloud System 108. FIG. 4 alsoillustrates that the OEM Cloud System 108 then sends notifications tothe relevant vehicle, such as UE VEH 106. In an alternative embodiment,the VRU Cloud System 104 can send the VRU anonymized notificationsdirectly to the relevant vehicle(s), such as UE VEH 106.

FIG. 5 illustrates the method of operating the first system may includesending 500 a second configuration message to the user equipment thatcauses the user equipment to deactivate a previously identifieddangerous area and to decrease a reporting granularity corresponding toa location of the user equipment. Also in accordance with embodiments,the network sends a configuration message to the UE to deactivate adangerous area. For example, VRU Cloud System 104 of FIG. 4 may send asecond configuration message to UE VEH 102 that causes UE VEH 102 todeactivate a previously identified dangerous area and to decrease areporting granularity corresponding to a location of UE VEH 102. Inaccordance with some embodiments, the second configuration messagefurther causes the user equipment to decrease a frequency that a GNSS isaccessed. For example, the UE VEH 102 of FIG. 4 will activate the GNSSin a less frequent manner and report its position less frequently as a“configuration of positioning reporting rate or frequency”.

FIG. 6 illustrates the method of operating the first system may includesending 600, to the user equipment, the activation notification thatactivates the dangerous area is performed responsive to detecting thatthe user equipment is proximate the dangerous area and that conditionscorresponding to activating the dangerous area are present, whereinconditions include information corresponding to the vehicle. Forexample, FIG. 8 illustrates VRU Cloud System 104 sending, to UE VRU 102,the activation notification that activates the dangerous area isperformed responsive to detecting that the UE VRU 102 is proximate thedangerous area and that conditions corresponding to activating thedangerous area are present, wherein conditions include informationcorresponding to UE VEH 106. Also in accordance with some embodiments,the network decides to activate a dangerous area and it detects that aUE 102 is close, or inside this dangerous area. Then, the network sendsa notification to the UE 102 so that the UE will activate the GNSS in amore frequent manner and also report its position more frequently as a“configuration of positioning reporting rate or frequency”.

In accordance with some embodiments, the method of operating the firstsystem may include sending a second configuration message to the userequipment that causes the user equipment to deactivate a previouslyidentified dangerous area and to decrease a reporting granularitycorresponding to a location of the user equipment in response todetecting that the user equipment is not proximate the dangerous area.For example, VEH Cloud System 104 of FIG. 8 may send a secondconfiguration message to UE VRU 102 that causes the UE VRU 102 todeactivate a previously identified dangerous area and to decrease areporting granularity corresponding to a location of the UE VRU 102 inresponse to detecting that the UE VRU 102 is not proximate the dangerousarea. Also in accordance with some embodiments, the network decides todeactivate a dangerous area or it detects that the UE 102 is not closeor inside this dangerous area. In accordance with some embodiments, themethod of operating the first system may include sending a secondconfiguration message to the user equipment that causes the userequipment to deactivate a previously identified dangerous area and todecrease a frequency that a global navigation satellite system, GNSS, isaccessed responsive to receiving the first configuration message. Forexample, the network sends a notification to the UE 102 so that the UE102 will activate the GNSS in a less frequent manner and also report itsposition less frequently as a “configuration of positioning reportingrate or frequency”.

The method of operating the first system may include receiving a requestfor increased radio resources from the user equipment based on the userequipment entering the dangerous area in accordance with someembodiments described herein. For example, the VRU Cloud System 104 mayreceiving a request for increased radio resources from UE VRU 102 basedon the UE VRU 102 entering the dangerous area. In accordance withembodiments, the UE triggers an activation GNSS in a more frequentmanner and also reports its position more frequently, when entering anactive dangerous zone. The coarse position can be measured byinfrequently activations of GNSS. When more fined grained positioning isneeded for a VRU, the VRU needs to send more info which leads to largerpayload. In this embodiment, the UE 102 requests radio resources for achange in the rate of reporting position. In accordance with someembodiments, the radio resource comprises a larger reporting allocationand/or an increased frequency of reporting. For example, if the UE 102enters an active dangerous area, then the UE 102 request to be allocatedlarger, or more frequent resources, for reporting position to VRU CloudSystem 104.

In accordance with some embodiments, the location reporting data isreceived from the user equipment using a VRU tracking protocol. Forexample, FIG. 8 illustrates the VRU Cloud System 104 receiving locationreporting data from UE VRU 102 using a VRU tracking protocol. Also inaccordance with some embodiments, the method of operating the firstsystem may include receiving anonymized vehicle notifications from thesecond system that are based on movement data corresponding to thevehicle that is received from the vehicle. For example, FIG. 8illustrates VRU Cloud System 104 receiving anonymized vehiclenotifications from OEM Cloud System 108 that are based on movement datacorresponding to UE VEH 106 that is received from UE VEH 106. Inaccordance with some embodiments, the first configuration messageincludes data corresponding to the anonymized vehicle notifications.

FIG. 7 illustrates the method of operating the first system may includesending 700, to the user equipment, predefined dangerous zones thatinclude the dangerous area, wherein sending the predefined dangerouszones is performed using low priority data transfers for the userequipment to preload the predefined dangerous zones. For example, VRUCloud System 104 of FIG. 8 may send, to UE VRU 102, predefined dangerouszones that include the dangerous area, wherein sending the predefineddangerous zones is performed using low priority data transfers for UEVRU 102 to preload the predefined dangerous zones. In accordance withembodiments, a size of an activated portion of the predefined dangerouszones is based on a speed of the vehicle. In accordance withembodiments, the configuration of intensity of transmissions of VRUpositions can be done by activating, or deactivation, of dangerouszones, as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 8. For example, FIG. 8illustrates activation of a dangerous zone in the VRU UE 102 by thenetwork based on position, speed and planned route of the vehicle (VEH)106.

FIG. 9 illustrates a method of operating a network node includescommunicating 900, using a first network application, with a userequipment, to cause the user equipment to activate a dangerous area andto increase a reporting granularity corresponding to a location of theuser equipment, the dangerous area corresponding to an area thatincludes a vehicle operating therein, the reporting granularity isincreased relative to a first reporting granularity. For example, theCloud System 104 of FIG. 8 may include a first network application, suchas a VRU cloud application, that communicates, to UE VRU 102, to causethe UE VRU 102 to activate a dangerous area and to increase a reportinggranularity corresponding to a location of UE VRU 102, the dangerousarea corresponding to an area that includes a vehicle UE VEH 106operating therein, the reporting granularity is increased relative to afirst reporting granularity.

Returning to FIG. 9, the method of operating a network also includesreceiving 902, from the user equipment, location reporting data that isprovided at the increased granularity. For example, the VRU Cloud System104 of FIG. 8 may receive, from UE VRU 102, location reporting data thatis provided at the increased granularity. FIG. 9 also illustrates themethod of operating the network node includes communicating 904, betweenthe first network application and a second network application, a firstnotification that corresponds to determining that the user equipmentwill be in the dangerous area, the second network application beingconfigured to send a vehicle notification to the vehicle to avoid acollision. For example, the VRU Cloud System 104 of FIG. 8 maycommunicate, between VRU Cloud application and a OEM Cloud applicationof OEM Cloud System 108, a first notification that corresponds todetermining that the UE VEH 102 will be in the dangerous area, the OEMCloud application being configured to send a vehicle notification to thevehicle UE VEH 106 to avoid a collision.

In accordance with some embodiments, the method of operating the networknode may include determining, by the first network application, coarselocation data of the user equipment using network only measurements. Forexample, the VRU Cloud application of VRU Cloud System 104 may determinecoarse location data of UE VRU 102 using network only measurements. Inaccordance with some embodiments, the network only measurements comprisereference signals received power measurements from surroundingcommunication network cells. Also in accordance with some embodiments,the network only measurements comprise beamformed reference signals fromone or more base stations.

FIG. 10 illustrates a method of operating a user equipment in accordancewith the embodiments described herein. FIG. 10 illustrates the method ofoperating the user equipment includes communicating 1000, with a firstsystem via a radio access network. For example, FIG. 8 illustrates theUE VEH 102 communicating with VRU Cloud System 104 via a radio accessnetwork. Returning to FIG. 10, the method of operating the userequipment includes increasing 1002 a frequency at which a GNSS isaccessed responsive to the user equipment entering a dangerous area, thedangerous area corresponding to an area that includes a vehicleoperating therein, wherein an increase in GNSS access frequency providesan increased location data. For example, UE VEH 102 illustrated in FIG.8 increases a frequency at which a GNSS of UE VEH 102 is accessedresponsive to UE VEH 102 entering a dangerous area, the dangerous areacorresponding to an area that includes a vehicle UE VEH 106 operatingtherein, wherein an increase in GNSS access frequency provides anincreased location data.

In accordance with some embodiments, the method of operating the userequipment may include sending, to a first system, a request for radioresources to provide the increased location data relative to data thatwas provided before increasing the frequency at which the GNSS wasaccessed. For example, the UE VEH 102 illustrated in FIG. 8 may send, toVRU Cloud System 104, a request for radio resources to provide theincreased location data relative to data that was provided beforeincreasing the frequency at which the GNSS was accessed.

FIG. 11 illustrates the method of operating a user equipment may includeactivating 1100 the dangerous area responsive to receiving anotification. In accordance with embodiments, the notification isreceived from a vehicle user equipment. For example, FIG. 14 illustratesUE VRU 102 receives the notification from UE VEH 106. In accordance withother embodiments, the notification is received from the first system.As discussed in previous examples above, FIG. 8 illustrates UE VRU 102receives the notification from VRU Cloud System 104.

FIG. 12 illustrates the method of operating the user equipment mayinclude receiving 1200, from the first system, a first configurationmessage corresponding to the dangerous area. FIG. 12 also illustratesthe method of operating the user equipment may include activating 1202the dangerous area and increasing a reporting granularity correspondingto a location of the user equipment in response to receiving the firstconfiguration message. As discussed in previous examples describedabove, FIG. 8 illustrates UE VRU 102 receives, from VRU Cloud System104, a first configuration message corresponding to the dangerous area.In this example, UE VRU 102 also activates the dangerous area andincreases reporting granularity corresponding to a location of UE VRU102 in response to receiving the first configuration message. Inaccordance with embodiments, the method of operating the user equipmentmay include increasing a frequency that a global navigation satellitesystem, GNSS, is accessed responsive to receiving the firstconfiguration message.

FIG. 13 also illustrates the method of operating the user equipment mayinclude receiving 1300, from the first system, a second configurationmessage corresponding to the dangerous area. FIG. 13 also illustratesthe method of operating the user equipment may include deactivating thedangerous area and decreasing a reporting granularity corresponding to alocation of the user equipment in response to receiving the secondconfiguration message. As discussed in previous examples describedabove, FIG. 8 illustrates UE VRU 102 receives, from VRU Cloud System104, a second configuration message corresponding to the dangerous area.In this example, UE VRU 102 deactivates the dangerous area and decreasesa reporting granularity corresponding to a location of UE VRU 102 inresponse to receiving the second configuration message. In accordancewith embodiments, the method of operating the user equipment may includedecreasing a frequency that a GNSS is access responsive to receiving thesecond configuration message.

The method of operating the user equipment may include receiving, fromthe first system, predefined dangerous zones that include the dangerousarea, wherein receiving the predefined dangerous zones is performedusing low priority data transfers for the user equipment to preload thepredefined dangerous zones. As discussed in previous examples describedabove, FIG. 8 illustrates UE VRU 102 receives, from VRU Cloud System104, predefined dangerous zones that include the dangerous area, whereinreceiving the predefined dangerous zones is performed using low prioritydata transfers for UE VRU 102 to preload the predefined dangerous zones.In accordance with some embodiments, a size of an activated portion ofthe predefined dangerous zones is based on a speed of the vehicle.

In another embodiment of the invention, the VRU UE 102 detects that itshould activate a dangerous zone. This can be done by a notificationdirectly from a VEH UE 102 by a sidelink connection, as illustrated, forexample, as discussed above, in FIG. 14.

In accordance with embodiments, dangerous areas or zones can bepredefined, where these zones correspond to areas in which a vehiclemight be present. An “active dangerous area” is activated if a vehicleis present in within, or is approaching, a specific dangerous zone, asshown, for example, in FIG. 15. For example, roads and the near vicinityof the roads with a vehicle inside or approaching are marked as an“active dangerous zone”, as shown in FIG. 15. As discussed above, thesepredefined dangerous zones can be downloaded to the VRU UE 102 as lowpriority data transfers and/or preloaded into the VRU UE 102 for a largearea around its current position. In this case the position, andpossible speed, of the vehicle must be known by the VRU Cloud System, asshown, for example, in FIG. 8. In some embodiments, anonymization thisinformation might be done between OEM Cloud System 108 and a VRU CloudSystem 104.

In some embodiments, the size of the “active dangerous zone” is changeddepending on the speed of the vehicle. For example, a parked vehicle,with zero speed, can have a dangerous zone only within one or a fewmeters surrounding the vehicle. The size of the dangerous zone is theincreased in the front direction of the vehicle by the speed if thevehicle is moving forward.

In accordance with some embodiments, a dangerous zone is activated onlyin those areas which the vehicle is known to be entering, asillustrated, for example, in FIG. 16. For example, Roads and the nearvicinity of the roads where the vehicle is planning its route is markedas an “active dangerous zone”, as shown in FIG. 16. This knowledge canbe based on planned route of an autonomous car. In this case any, orall, of the position, speed and planned route must be known by the VRUCloud System 104, as shown, for example, in FIG. 8. In some embodiments,anonymization this information might also be done between OEM CloudSystem 108 and a VRU Cloud System 104.

FIG. 17 illustrates a block diagram of an example user equipment UEQQ1700 in accordance with embodiments of the inventive conceptsdescribed herein. FIG. 17 illustrates the UE QQ1700 comprises aprocessor QQ1702 that is coupled to a memory QQ1704 and a transceiverQQ1706 to communicate to a first system via a radio access network asdescribed herein. FIG. 17 also illustrates transceiver QQ1706 is coupledto antenna QQ1708 to enable the UE QQ1700 to communicate with the radioaccess network. In accordance with embodiments, processor QQ1702 isconfigured to perform operations of UE VRU 102 as described above. Alsoin accordance with embodiments, processor QQ1702 may comprise a hardwareprocessor, such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), and an application specific integrated 7circuit (ASIC). In accordance with embodiments, processor QQ1702 maycomprise processing circuitry configured to perform the operationsdescribed herein. FIG. 16 also illustrates the UE QQ1700 comprisesglobal navigation satellite system, GNSS, circuitry 1710 configured tocommunicate with a GNSS in accordance with embodiment as describedherein.

FIG. 18 illustrates a block diagram of an example node QQ1800 inaccordance with embodiments of the inventive concepts described herein.FIG. 18 illustrates the node QQ1800 comprises a processor QQ1802 that iscoupled to a memory QQ1804 and a network interface QQ1806 to communicatewith a second communication node and a VRU user equipment via an accessnetwork. In some embodiments, node QQ1800 comprises a transceiver QQ1808coupled to antenna 1810 to communicate with the VRU user equipment overan air interface. In accordance with embodiments, processor QQ1802 isconfigured to perform operations of Node 100 of either VRU Cloud System104 or OEM Cloud System 108, or in combination as described above. Alsoin accordance with embodiments, processor QQ1802 may comprise a hardwareprocessor, such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), and an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC). In accordance with embodiments, processor QQ1802 maycomprise processing circuitry configured to perform the operationsdescribed herein.

As mentioned previously, the VRU Cloud System 104 may not able todetermine the position of the VRU UE 102 with enough accuracy. In thisembodiment, the VRU Cloud System 104 configures the VRU UE 102 to morefrequently take measurements of position, or to average the measurementsover a longer time interval, as discussed above. In one embodiment, thecoarse positioning is measured by infrequent measurements by using aGNSS system in the VRU UE 102. An inaccurate coarse positioning can bedue to that the GNSS is not providing enough accuracy, or too fewreports from the VRU UE 102. In another embodiment, the coarse positionis derived by network only measurements. One such example is RSRP(Reference Signal Received Power) measurements from surrounding cells,as commonly used for handover decisions by the network. Anotheralternative is triangularization of uplink transmissions from one VRU UE102 which is received in several base stations, where each base stationmeasures propagation delays of received signals. Yet another alternativeis to determine the coarse positioning from measurements of beamformedreference signals from the base stations, such as defined for New Radio(NR), where the directions and positions can be known of the beams inwhich these beamformed reference signals are transmitted.

Example embodiments of inventive concepts are set forth below.

1. A method of operating a first system, the method comprising:

sending, to a user equipment, an activation notification that activatesa dangerous area and causes the user equipment to increase a reportinggranularity corresponding to a location of the user equipment, thedangerous area corresponding to an area that includes a vehicleoperating therein, thus the reporting granularity is increased relativeto a first reporting granularity;

receiving, from the user equipment, location reporting data that isprovided at the increased granularity; and

sending, to a second system, a first notification that corresponds todetermining that the VRU will be in the dangerous area.

2. The method of Embodiment 1, further comprising, before sending thefirst notification to the second system, anonymizing the firstnotification to remove VRU specific data therefrom, wherein ananonymized first notification is sent to the vehicle via the secondsystem.

3. The method of any of Embodiments 1-3, further comprising sending asecond configuration message to the user equipment that causes the userequipment to deactivate a previously identified dangerous area and todecrease a reporting granularity corresponding to a location of the userequipment.

4. The method of any of Embodiments 1-3, wherein the first configurationmessage further causes the user equipment to increase a frequency that aglobal navigation satellite system, GNSS, is accessed.

5. The method of Embodiment 3, wherein the second configuration messagefurther causes the user equipment to decrease a frequency that a GNSS isaccessed.

6. The method of Embodiment 1, wherein sending, to the user equipment,the activation notification that activates the dangerous area isperformed responsive to detecting that the user equipment is proximatethe dangerous area and that conditions corresponding to activating thedangerous area are present, wherein conditions include informationcorresponding to the vehicle.

7. The method of Embodiment 1, further comprising sending a secondconfiguration message to the user equipment that causes the userequipment to deactivate a previously identified dangerous area and todecrease a reporting granularity corresponding to a location of the userequipment in response to detecting that the user equipment is notproximate the dangerous area.

8. The method of any of Embodiments 1-7, further comprising receiving arequest for increased radio resources from the user equipment based onthe user equipment entering the dangerous area.

9. The method of Embodiment 8, wherein the radio resource comprises alarger reporting allocation and/or an increased frequency of reporting.

10. The method of Embodiment 1, further comprising sending a secondconfiguration message to the user equipment that causes the userequipment to deactivate a previously identified dangerous area and todecrease a frequency that a global navigation satellite system, GNSS, isaccessed responsive to receiving the first configuration message

11. The method of any of Embodiments 1-10, wherein the locationreporting data is received from the user equipment using a VRU trackingprotocol.

12. The method of any of Embodiments 1-11, further comprising receivinganonymized vehicle notifications from the second system that are basedon movement data corresponding to the vehicle that is received from thevehicle.

13. The method of Embodiment 12, wherein the first configuration messageincludes data corresponding to the anonymized vehicle notifications.

14. The method of any of Embodiments 1-13, further comprising sending,to the user equipment, predefined dangerous zones that include thedangerous area, wherein sending the predefined dangerous zones isperformed using low priority data transfers for the user equipment topreload the predefined dangerous zones.

15. The method of Embodiment 14, wherein a size of an activated portionof the predefined dangerous zones is based on a speed of the vehicle.

16. A first communication node comprising:

a network interface that is configured to communicate with a secondcommunication node and with a user equipment via one or more accessnetworks; and

a processor that is coupled to the network interface and is configuredto perform operations of any of Embodiments 1-15.

17. A first communication node comprising respective modules that areadapted to perform according to any of Embodiments 1-15.

18. A user equipment, UE, adapted to perform according to any ofEmbodiments 1-15.

19. A user equipment, UE, comprising:

a transceiver that is configured to communicate with a first system viaa radio access network; and

a processor that is coupled to the transceiver and that is configured toperform operations comprising:

increasing a frequency at which a GNSS is accessed responsive to theuser equipment being proximate to and/or entering a dangerous area, thedangerous area corresponding to an area that includes a vehicleoperating therein, wherein an increase in GNSS access frequency providesan increased location data.

20. The user equipment of Embodiment 19, further comprising sending, tothe first system, a request for radio resources to provide the increasedlocation data relative to data that was provided before increasing thefrequency at which the GNSS was accessed.

21. The user equipment of any of Embodiments 19-20, further comprisingactivating the dangerous area responsive to receiving a notification.

22. The user equipment of Embodiment 21, wherein the notification isreceived from a vehicle user equipment.

23. The user equipment of Embodiment 21, wherein the notification isreceived from the first system.

24. The user equipment of any of Embodiments 19-23, further comprising:

receiving, from the first system, a first configuration messagecorresponding to the dangerous area; and

activating the dangerous area and increasing a reporting granularitycorresponding to a location of the user equipment in response toreceiving the first configuration message.

25. The user equipment of any of Embodiments 19-24, further comprising:

receiving, from the first system, a second configuration messagecorresponding to the dangerous area;

deactivating the dangerous area and decreasing a reporting granularitycorresponding to a location of the user equipment in response toreceiving the second configuration message.

26. The user equipment of any of Embodiments 19-25, further comprisingincreasing a frequency that a global navigation satellite system, GNSS,is accessed responsive to receiving the first configuration message.

27. The user equipment of Embodiment 25, further comprising decreasing afrequency that a GNSS is accessed responsive to receiving the secondconfiguration message.

28. The user equipment of any of Embodiments 19-27, further comprisingreceiving, from the first system, predefined dangerous zones thatinclude the dangerous area, wherein receiving the predefined dangerouszones is performed using low priority data transfers for the userequipment to preload the predefined dangerous zones.

29. The user equipment of Embodiment 28, wherein a size of an activatedportion of the predefined dangerous zones is based on a speed of thevehicle.

30. A method of operating a network node, the method comprising:

communicating, using a first network application, with a user equipment,to cause the user equipment to activate a dangerous area and to increasea reporting granularity corresponding to a location of the userequipment, the dangerous area corresponding to an area that includes avehicle operating therein, the reporting granularity is increasedrelative to a first reporting granularity;

receiving, from the user equipment, location reporting data that isprovided at the increased granularity; and communicating, between thefirst network application and a second network application, a firstnotification that corresponds to determining that the user equipmentwill be in the dangerous area, the second network application beingconfigured to send a vehicle notification to the vehicle to avoid acollision.

31. The method of Embodiment 30, further comprising determining, by thefirst network application, coarse location data of the user equipmentusing network only measurements.

32. The method of Embodiment 31, wherein the network only measurementscomprise reference signal received power measurements from surroundingcommunication network cells.

33. The method of Embodiment 31, wherein the network only measurementscomprise beamformed reference signals from one or more base stations.

34. A first communication node comprising:

a network interface that is configured to communicate with a secondcommunication node and a user equipment via an access network; and

a processor that is coupled to the network interface and is configuredto perform operations of any of Embodiments 30-33.

35. A method of operating a user equipment, UE, the method comprising:

communicating with a first system via a radio access network; and

increasing a frequency at which a GNSS is accessed responsive to theuser equipment entering a dangerous area, the dangerous areacorresponding to an area that includes a vehicle operating therein,wherein an increase in GNSS access frequency provides an increasedlocation data.

36. The method of Embodiment 35, further comprising sending, to a firstsystem, a request for radio resources to provide the increased locationdata relative to data that was provided before increasing the frequencyat which the GNSS was accessed.

37. The method of any of Embodiments 35-36, further comprisingactivating the dangerous area responsive to receiving a notification.

38. The method of Embodiment 37, wherein the notification is receivedfrom a vehicle user equipment.

39. The method of Embodiment 37, wherein the notification is receivedfrom the first system.

40. The method of any of Embodiments 35-39, further comprising:

receiving, from the first system, a first configuration messagecorresponding to the dangerous area; and

activating the dangerous area and increasing a reporting granularitycorresponding to a location of the user equipment in response toreceiving the first configuration message.

41. The method of any of Embodiments 35-40, further comprising:

receiving, from the first system, a second configuration messagecorresponding to the dangerous area;

deactivating the dangerous area and decreasing a reporting granularitycorresponding to a location of the user equipment in response toreceiving the second configuration message.

42. The method of any of Embodiments 35-41, further comprisingincreasing a frequency that a global navigation satellite system, GNSS,is accessed responsive to receiving the first configuration message.

43. The method of Embodiment 42, further comprising decreasing afrequency that a GNSS is accessed responsive to receiving the secondconfiguration message.

44. The method of any of Embodiments 35-43, further comprisingreceiving, from the first system, predefined dangerous zones thatinclude the dangerous area, wherein receiving the predefined dangerouszones is performed using low priority data transfers for the userequipment to preload the predefined dangerous zones.

45. The method of Embodiment 44, wherein a size of an activated portionof the predefined dangerous zones is based on a speed of the vehicle.

Explanations for abbreviations from the above disclosure are providedbelow.

Abbreviation Explanation BI Backoff Indicator CE Coverage Enhancement DLDownLink EDT Early Data Transmission eMTC Enhanced Machine TypeCommunication FDD Frequency Division Duplex IoT Internet of Things LTELong Term Evolution MAC Medium Access Control MTC Machine TypeCommunication NB Narrow Band NW Network PDU Protocol Data Unit PRACHPreamble Random Access Channel PRB Physical Resource Block RA RandomAccess RAR Random Access Response RRC Radio Resource Control TBSTransport Block Size UE User Equipment UL UpLink UP User Plane GNSSGlobal Navigation Satellite Systems GPS Global Positioning System LTELong-Term Evolution NR New Radio OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer VRUVulnerable Road User

Further definitions and embodiments are discussed below.

In the above-description of various embodiments of present inventiveconcepts, it is to be understood that the terminology used herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of present inventive concepts. Unless otherwisedefined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) usedherein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art to which present inventive concepts belong. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of this specification andthe relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

When an element is referred to as being “connected”, “coupled”,“responsive”, or variants thereof to another element, it can be directlyconnected, coupled, or responsive to the other element or interveningelements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to asbeing “directly connected”, “directly coupled”, “directly responsive”,or variants thereof to another element, there are no interveningelements present. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.Furthermore, “coupled”, “connected”, “responsive”, or variants thereofas used herein may include wirelessly coupled, connected, or responsive.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described indetail for brevity and/or clarity. The term “and/or” includes any andall combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It will be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc.may be used herein to describe various elements/operations, theseelements/operations should not be limited by these terms. These termsare only used to distinguish one element/operation from anotherelement/operation. Thus a first element/operation in some embodimentscould be termed a second element/operation in other embodiments withoutdeparting from the teachings of present inventive concepts. The samereference numerals or the same reference designators denote the same orsimilar elements throughout the specification.

As used herein, the terms “comprise”, “comprising”, “comprises”,“include”, “including”, “includes”, “have”, “has”, “having”, or variantsthereof are open-ended, and include one or more stated features,integers, elements, steps, components or functions but does not precludethe presence or addition of one or more other features, integers,elements, steps, components, functions or groups thereof. Furthermore,as used herein, the common abbreviation “e.g.”, which derives from theLatin phrase “exempli gratia,” may be used to introduce or specify ageneral example or examples of a previously mentioned item, and is notintended to be limiting of such item. The common abbreviation “i.e.”,which derives from the Latin phrase “id est,” may be used to specify aparticular item from a more general recitation.

Example embodiments are described herein with reference to blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of computer-implemented methods,apparatus (systems and/or devices) and/or computer program products. Itis understood that a block of the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer programinstructions that are performed by one or more computer circuits. Thesecomputer program instructions may be provided to a processor circuit ofa general purpose computer circuit, special purpose computer circuit,and/or other programmable data processing circuit to produce a machine,such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of thecomputer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, transformand control transistors, values stored in memory locations, and otherhardware components within such circuitry to implement thefunctions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block orblocks, and thereby create means (functionality) and/or structure forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block(s).

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a tangiblecomputer-readable medium that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block or blocks. Accordingly, embodiments of present inventiveconcepts may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) that runs on a processorsuch as a digital signal processor, which may collectively be referredto as “circuitry,” “a module” or variants thereof.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted inthe flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in factbe executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/actsinvolved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowchartsand/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or thefunctionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams may be at least partially integrated. Finally, other blocks maybe added/inserted between the blocks that are illustrated, and/orblocks/operations may be omitted without departing from the scope ofinventive concepts. Moreover, although some of the diagrams includearrows on communication paths to show a primary direction ofcommunication, it is to be understood that communication may occur inthe opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

Many variations and modifications can be made to the embodiments withoutsubstantially departing from the principles of the present inventiveconcepts. All such variations and modifications are intended to beincluded herein within the scope of present inventive concepts.Accordingly, the above disclosed subject matter is to be consideredillustrative, and not restrictive, and the examples of embodiments areintended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and otherembodiments, which fall within the spirit and scope of present inventiveconcepts. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope ofpresent inventive concepts are to be determined by the broadestpermissible interpretation of the present disclosure including theexamples of embodiments and their equivalents, and shall not berestricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.

Additional explanation is provided below.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according totheir ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless adifferent meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context inwhich it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus,component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referringto at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means,step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methodsdisclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact orderdisclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following orpreceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step mustfollow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodimentsdisclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, whereverappropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may applyto any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features andadvantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from thefollowing description.

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described morefully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments,however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosedherein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limitedto only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter tothose skilled in the art.

FIG. 19: A wireless network in accordance with some embodiments.

Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in anyappropriate type of system using any suitable components, theembodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wirelessnetwork, such as the example wireless network illustrated in FIG. 19.For simplicity, the wireless network of FIG. 19 only depicts networkQQ106, network nodes QQ160 and QQ160 b, and WDs QQ110, QQ110 b, andQQ110 c (also referred to as mobile terminals). In practice, a wirelessnetwork may further include any additional elements suitable to supportcommunication between wireless devices or between a wireless device andanother communication device, such as a landline telephone, a serviceprovider, or any other network node or end device. Of the illustratedcomponents, network node QQ160 and wireless device (WD) QQ110 aredepicted with additional detail. The wireless network may providecommunication and other types of services to one or more wirelessdevices to facilitate the wireless devices' access to and/or use of theservices provided by, or via, the wireless network.

The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type ofcommunication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio networkor other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wirelessnetwork may be configured to operate according to specific standards orother types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particularembodiments of the wireless network may implement communicationstandards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution(LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless localarea network (WLAN) standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standards; and/orany other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as theWorldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth,Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.

Network QQ106 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks,IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet datanetworks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local areanetworks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks,wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks toenable communication between devices.

Network node QQ160 and WD QQ110 comprise various components described inmore detail below. These components work together in order to providenetwork node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providingwireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments,the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wirelessnetworks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices,relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that mayfacilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signalswhether via wired or wireless connections.

As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured,arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with awireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in thewireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to thewireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration)in the wireless network. Examples of network nodes include, but are notlimited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), basestations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs(eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based onthe amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, theirtransmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto basestations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro basestations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor nodecontrolling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (orall) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralizeddigital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to asRemote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not beintegrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of adistributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in adistributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodesinclude multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, networkcontrollers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base stationcontrollers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmissionpoints, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities(MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SONnodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs. As anotherexample, a network node may be a virtual network node as described inmore detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may representany suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged,and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with accessto the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless devicethat has accessed the wireless network.

In FIG. 19, network node QQ160 includes processing circuitry QQ170,device readable medium QQ180, interface QQ190, auxiliary equipmentQQ184, power source QQ186, power circuitry QQ187, and antenna QQ162.Although network node QQ160 illustrated in the example wireless networkof FIG. 19 may represent a device that includes the illustratedcombination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprisenetwork nodes with different combinations of components. It is to beunderstood that a network node comprises any suitable combination ofhardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features,functions and methods disclosed herein. Moreover, while the componentsof network node QQ160 are depicted as single boxes located within alarger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a network nodemay comprise multiple different physical components that make up asingle illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium QQ180 maycomprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).

Similarly, network node QQ160 may be composed of multiple physicallyseparate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or aBTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their ownrespective components. In certain scenarios in which network node QQ160comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components),one or more of the separate components may be shared among severalnetwork nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB's.In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in someinstances be considered a single separate network node. In someembodiments, network node QQ160 may be configured to support multipleradio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some componentsmay be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium QQ180 for thedifferent RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the sameantenna QQ162 may be shared by the RATs). Network node QQ160 may alsoinclude multiple sets of the various illustrated components fordifferent wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ160, suchas, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wirelesstechnologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into thesame or different chip or set of chips and other components withinnetwork node QQ160.

Processing circuitry QQ170 is configured to perform any determining,calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations)described herein as being provided by a network node. These operationsperformed by processing circuitry QQ170 may include processinginformation obtained by processing circuitry QQ170 by, for example,converting the obtained information into other information, comparingthe obtained information or converted information to information storedin the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based onthe obtained information or converted information, and as a result ofsaid processing making a determination.

Processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise a combination of one or more ofa microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit,digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, fieldprogrammable gate array, or any other suitable computing device,resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other networknode QQ160 components, such as device readable medium QQ180, networknode QQ160 functionality. For example, processing circuitry QQ170 mayexecute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ180 or in memorywithin processing circuitry QQ170. Such functionality may includeproviding any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefitsdiscussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 mayinclude a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 may include one or moreof radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and basebandprocessing circuitry QQ174. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF)transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 maybe on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radiounits and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RFtransceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 maybe on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality describedherein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or othersuch network device may be performed by processing circuitry QQ170executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ180 or memorywithin processing circuitry QQ170. In alternative embodiments, some orall of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ170without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete devicereadable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of thoseembodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readablestorage medium or not, processing circuitry QQ170 can be configured toperform the described functionality. The benefits provided by suchfunctionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ170 alone or toother components of network node QQ160, but are enjoyed by network nodeQQ160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless networkgenerally.

Device readable medium QQ180 may comprise any form of volatile ornon-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation,persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory,magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removablestorage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or aDigital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile,non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devicesthat store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used byprocessing circuitry QQ170. Device readable medium QQ180 may store anysuitable instructions, data or information, including a computerprogram, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules,code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executedby processing circuitry QQ170 and, utilized by network node QQ160.Device readable medium QQ180 may be used to store any calculations madeby processing circuitry QQ170 and/or any data received via interfaceQQ190. In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 and devicereadable medium QQ180 may be considered to be integrated.

Interface QQ190 is used in the wired or wireless communication ofsignalling and/or data between network node QQ160, network QQ106, and/orWDs QQ110. As illustrated, interface QQ190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s)QQ194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network QQ106over a wired connection. Interface QQ190 also includes radio front endcircuitry QQ192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a partof, antenna QQ162. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 comprises filtersQQ198 and amplifiers QQQQ196. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may beconnected to antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170. Radio frontend circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicatedbetween antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170. Radio front endcircuitry QQ192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to othernetwork nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front endcircuitry QQ192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal havingthe appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination offilters QQ198 and/or amplifiers QQ196. The radio signal may then betransmitted via antenna QQ162. Similarly, when receiving data, antennaQQ162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digitaldata by radio front end circuitry QQ192. The digital data may be passedto processing circuitry QQ170. In other embodiments, the interface maycomprise different components and/or different combinations ofcomponents.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node QQ160 may not includeseparate radio front end circuitry QQ192, instead, processing circuitryQQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected toantenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192.Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitryQQ172 may be considered a part of interface QQ190. In still otherembodiments, interface QQ190 may include one or more ports or terminals194, radio front end circuitry QQ192, and RF transceiver circuitryQQ172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface QQ190 maycommunicate with baseband processing circuitry QQ174, which is part of adigital unit (not shown).

Antenna QQ162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays,configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna QQ162 may becoupled to radio front end circuitry QQ190 and may be any type ofantenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signalswirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna QQ162 may comprise one or moreomni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receiveradio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. Anomni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signalsin any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radiosignals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna maybe a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in arelatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than oneantenna may be referred to as MIMO. In certain embodiments, antennaQQ162 may be separate from network node QQ160 and may be connectable tonetwork node QQ160 through an interface or port.

Antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 may beconfigured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtainingoperations described herein as being performed by a network node. Anyinformation, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device,another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly,antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 may beconfigured to perform any transmitting operations described herein asbeing performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signalsmay be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or anyother network equipment.

Power circuitry QQ187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power managementcircuitry and is configured to supply the components of network nodeQQ160 with power for performing the functionality described herein.Power circuitry QQ187 may receive power from power source QQ186. Powersource QQ186 and/or power circuitry QQ187 may be configured to providepower to the various components of network node QQ160 in a form suitablefor the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current levelneeded for each respective component). Power source QQ186 may either beincluded in, or external to, power circuitry QQ187 and/or network nodeQQ160. For example, network node QQ160 may be connectable to an externalpower source (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry orinterface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power sourcesupplies power to power circuitry QQ187. As a further example, powersource QQ186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery orbattery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitryQQ187. The battery may provide backup power should the external powersource fail. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices,may also be used.

Alternative embodiments of network node QQ160 may include additionalcomponents beyond those shown in FIG. 19 that may be responsible forproviding certain aspects of the network node's functionality, includingany of the functionality described herein and/or any functionalitynecessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example,network node QQ160 may include user interface equipment to allow inputof information into network node QQ160 and to allow output ofinformation from network node QQ160. This may allow a user to performdiagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions fornetwork node QQ160.

As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable,configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly withnetwork nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, theterm WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE).Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receivingwireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infraredwaves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying informationthrough air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmitand/or receive information without direct human interaction. Forinstance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on apredetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event,or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include,but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, avoice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktopcomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, agaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance,a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, atablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mountedequipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment(CPE). a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may supportdevice-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPPstandard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V),vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may inthis case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet anotherspecific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a WD mayrepresent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/ormeasurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/ormeasurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in thiscase be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP contextbe referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD maybe a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT)standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors,metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home orpersonal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personalwearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, aWD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable ofmonitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functionsassociated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent theendpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may bereferred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described abovemay be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobiledevice or a mobile terminal.

As illustrated, wireless device QQ110 includes antenna QQ111, interfaceQQ114, processing circuitry QQ120, device readable medium QQ130, userinterface equipment QQ132, auxiliary equipment QQ134, power source QQ136and power circuitry QQ137. WD QQ110 may include multiple sets of one ormore of the illustrated components for different wireless technologiessupported by WD QQ110, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi,WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. Thesewireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chipsor set of chips as other components within WD QQ110.

Antenna QQ111 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays,configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected tointerface QQ114. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna QQ111 maybe separate from WD QQ110 and be connectable to WD QQ110 through aninterface or port. Antenna QQ111, interface QQ114, and/or processingcircuitry QQ120 may be configured to perform any receiving ortransmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Anyinformation, data and/or signals may be received from a network nodeand/or another WD. In some embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/orantenna QQ111 may be considered an interface.

As illustrated, interface QQ114 comprises radio front end circuitryQQ112 and antenna QQ111. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 comprise one ormore filters QQ118 and amplifiers QQ116. Radio front end circuitry QQ114is connected to antenna QQ111 and processing circuitry QQ120, and isconfigured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ111 andprocessing circuitry QQ120. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may becoupled to or a part of antenna QQ111. In some embodiments, WD QQ110 maynot include separate radio front end circuitry QQ112; rather, processingcircuitry QQ120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may beconnected to antenna QQ111. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or allof RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be considered a part of interfaceQQ114. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may receive digital data that isto be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection.Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may convert the digital data into aradio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parametersusing a combination of filters QQ118 and/or amplifiers QQ116. The radiosignal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ111. Similarly, whenreceiving data, antenna QQ111 may collect radio signals which are thenconverted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ112. Thedigital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ120. In otherembodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/ordifferent combinations of components.

Processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise a combination of one or more ofa microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit,digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, fieldprogrammable gate array, or any other suitable computing device,resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD QQ110components, such as device readable medium QQ130, WD QQ110functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of thevarious wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example,processing circuitry QQ120 may execute instructions stored in devicereadable medium QQ130 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ120 toprovide the functionality disclosed herein.

As illustrated, processing circuitry QQ120 includes one or more of RFtransceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, andapplication processing circuitry QQ126. In other embodiments, theprocessing circuitry may comprise different components and/or differentcombinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitryQQ120 of WD QQ110 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RFtransceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, andapplication processing circuitry QQ126 may be on separate chips or setsof chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processingcircuitry QQ124 and application processing circuitry QQ126 may becombined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitryQQ122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternativeembodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 and basebandprocessing circuitry QQ124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, andapplication processing circuitry QQ126 may be on a separate chip or setof chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RFtransceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, andapplication processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined in the same chipor set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 maybe a part of interface QQ114. RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 maycondition RF signals for processing circuitry QQ120.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality describedherein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processingcircuitry QQ120 executing instructions stored on device readable mediumQQ130, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storagemedium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality maybe provided by processing circuitry QQ120 without executing instructionsstored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such asin a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whetherexecuting instructions stored on a device readable storage medium ornot, processing circuitry QQ120 can be configured to perform thedescribed functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality arenot limited to processing circuitry QQ120 alone or to other componentsof WD QQ110, but are enjoyed by WD QQ110 as a whole, and/or by end usersand the wireless network generally.

Processing circuitry QQ120 may be configured to perform any determining,calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations)described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, asperformed by processing circuitry QQ120, may include processinginformation obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example,converting the obtained information into other information, comparingthe obtained information or converted information to information storedby WD QQ110, and/or performing one or more operations based on theobtained information or converted information, and as a result of saidprocessing making a determination.

Device readable medium QQ130 may be operable to store a computerprogram, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules,code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executedby processing circuitry QQ120. Device readable medium QQ130 may includecomputer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory(ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media(e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or anyother volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/orcomputer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/orinstructions that may be used by processing circuitry QQ120. In someembodiments, processing circuitry QQ120 and device readable medium QQ130may be considered to be integrated. User interface equipment QQ132 mayprovide components that allow for a human user to interact with WDQQ110. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial,tactile, etc. User interface equipment QQ132 may be operable to produceoutput to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD QQ110.The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interfaceequipment QQ132 installed in WD QQ110. For example, if WD QQ110 is asmart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD QQ110 is asmart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage(e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audiblealert (e.g., if smoke is detected). User interface equipment QQ132 mayinclude input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces,devices and circuits. User interface equipment QQ132 is configured toallow input of information into WD QQ110, and is connected to processingcircuitry QQ120 to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to process the inputinformation. User interface equipment QQ132 may include, for example, amicrophone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display,one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. Userinterface equipment QQ132 is also configured to allow output ofinformation from WD QQ110, and to allow processing circuitry QQ120 tooutput information from WD QQ110. User interface equipment QQ132 mayinclude, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USBport, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one ormore input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of userinterface equipment QQ132, WD QQ110 may communicate with end usersand/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from thefunctionality described herein.

Auxiliary equipment QQ134 is operable to provide more specificfunctionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This maycomprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for variouspurposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wiredcommunications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliaryequipment QQ134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.

Power source QQ136 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a batteryor battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external powersource (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or powercells, may also be used. WD QQ110 may further comprise power circuitryQQ137 for delivering power from power source QQ136 to the various partsof WD QQ110 which need power from power source QQ136 to carry out anyfunctionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry QQ137 mayin certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Powercircuitry QQ137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receivepower from an external power source; in which case WD QQ110 may beconnectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet)via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable.Power circuitry QQ137 may also in certain embodiments be operable todeliver power from an external power source to power source QQ136. Thismay be, for example, for the charging of power source 136. Powercircuitry QQ137 may perform any formatting, converting, or othermodification to the power from power source QQ136 to make the powersuitable for the respective components of WD QQ110 to which power issupplied.

FIG. 20: User Equipment in accordance with some embodiments

FIG. 20 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with variousaspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may notnecessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/oroperates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device thatis intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which maynot, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific humanuser (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE mayrepresent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, anend user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit ofa user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE QQ2200 may be any UE identifiedby the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE,a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.UE QQ200, as illustrated in FIG. 20, is one example of a WD configuredfor communication in accordance with one or more communication standardspromulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as3GPP′s GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As mentioned previously, theterm WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although FIG.20 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to aWD, and vice-versa.

In FIG. 20, UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ201 that isoperatively coupled to input/output interface QQ205, radio frequency(RF) interface QQ209, network connection interface QQ211, memory QQ215including random access memory (RAM) QQ217, read-only memory (ROM)QQ219, and storage medium QQ221 or the like, communication subsystemQQ231, power source QQ233, and/or any other component, or anycombination thereof. Storage medium QQ221 includes operating systemQQ223, application program QQ225, and data QQ227. In other embodiments,storage medium QQ221 may include other similar types of information.Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in FIG. 20, or onlya subset of the components. The level of integration between thecomponents may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs maycontain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors,memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

In FIG. 20, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to processcomputer instructions and data. Processing circuitry QQ201 may beconfigured to implement any sequential state machine operative toexecute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computerprograms in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented statemachines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logictogether with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program,general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combinationof the above. For example, the processing circuitry QQ201 may includetwo central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a formsuitable for use by a computer.

In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface QQ205 may beconfigured to provide a communication interface to an input device,output device, or input and output device. UE QQ200 may be configured touse an output device via input/output interface QQ205. An output devicemay use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example,a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE QQ200. Theoutput device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, amonitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another outputdevice, or any combination thereof. UE QQ200 may be configured to use aninput device via input/output interface QQ205 to allow a user to captureinformation into UE QQ200. The input device may include atouch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digitalcamera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, asensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scrollwheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display mayinclude a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from auser. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, atilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, aproximity sensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. Forexample, the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, adigital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.

In FIG. 20, RF interface QQ209 may be configured to provide acommunication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, areceiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface QQ211 may beconfigured to provide a communication interface to network QQ243 a.Network QQ243 a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as alocal-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network,a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like networkor any combination thereof. For example, network QQ243 a may comprise aWi-Fi network. Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured toinclude a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate withone or more other devices over a communication network according to oneor more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM,or the like. Network connection interface QQ211 may implement receiverand transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication networklinks (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter andreceiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware,or alternatively may be implemented separately.

RAM QQ217 may be configured to interface via bus QQ202 to processingcircuitry QQ201 to provide storage or caching of data or computerinstructions during the execution of software programs such as theoperating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM QQ219may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processingcircuitry QQ201. For example, ROM QQ219 may be configured to storeinvariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions suchas basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokesfrom a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage mediumQQ221 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmableread-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magneticdisks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, orflash drives. In one example, storage medium QQ221 may be configured toinclude operating system QQ223, application program QQ225 such as a webbrowser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application,and data file QQ227. Storage medium QQ221 may store, for use by UEQQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations ofoperating systems.

Storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include a number of physicaldrive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppydisk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive,thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc(HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray opticaldisc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive,external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcardmemory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity(SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storagemedium QQ221 may allow UE QQ200 to access computer-executableinstructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory ornon-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. Anarticle of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system maybe tangibly embodied in storage medium QQ221, which may comprise adevice readable medium.

In FIG. 20, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicatewith network QQ243 b using communication subsystem QQ231. Network QQ243a and network QQ243 b may be the same network or networks or differentnetwork or networks. Communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured toinclude one or more transceivers used to communicate with network QQ243b. For example, communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured toinclude one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or moreremote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communicationsuch as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN)according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.11,CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver mayinclude transmitter QQ233 and/or receiver QQ235 to implement transmitteror receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links(e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter QQ233and receiver QQ235 of each transceiver may share circuit components,software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions ofcommunication subsystem QQ231 may include data communication, voicecommunication, multimedia communication, short-range communications suchas Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communicationsuch as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine alocation, another like communication function, or any combinationthereof. For example, communication subsystem QQ231 may include cellularcommunication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPScommunication. Network QQ243 b may encompass wired and/or wirelessnetworks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN),a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network,another like network or any combination thereof. For example, networkQQ243 b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-fieldnetwork. Power source QQ213 may be configured to provide alternatingcurrent (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE QQ200.

The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may beimplemented in one of the components of UE QQ200 or partitioned acrossmultiple components of UE QQ200. Further, the features, benefits, and/orfunctions described herein may be implemented in any combination ofhardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystemQQ231 may be configured to include any of the components describedherein. Further, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured tocommunicate with any of such components over bus QQ202. In anotherexample, any of such components may be represented by programinstructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitryQQ201 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In anotherexample, the functionality of any of such components may be partitionedbetween processing circuitry QQ201 and communication subsystem QQ231. Inanother example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any ofsuch components may be implemented in software or firmware and thecomputationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

FIG. 21: Virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments

FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualizationenvironment QQ300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments maybe virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creatingvirtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may includevirtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networkingresources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to a node(e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) orto a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type ofcommunication device) or components thereof and relates to animplementation in which at least a portion of the functionality isimplemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or moreapplications, components, functions, virtual machines or containersexecuting on one or more physical processing nodes in one or morenetworks).

In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein maybe implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtualmachines implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ300 hosted byone or more of hardware nodes QQ330. Further, in embodiments in whichthe virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radioconnectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may beentirely virtualized.

The functions may be implemented by one or more applications QQ320(which may alternatively be called software instances, virtualappliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions,etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/orbenefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications QQ320are run in virtualization environment QQ300 which provides hardwareQQ330 comprising processing circuitry QQ360 and memory QQ390. MemoryQQ390 contains instructions QQ395 executable by processing circuitryQQ360 whereby application QQ320 is operative to provide one or more ofthe features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

Virtualization environment QQ300, comprises general-purpose orspecial-purpose network hardware devices QQ330 comprising a set of oneor more processors or processing circuitry QQ360, which may becommercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processingcircuitry including digital or analog hardware components or specialpurpose processors. Each hardware device may comprise memory QQ390-1which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructionsQQ395 or software executed by processing circuitry QQ360. Each hardwaredevice may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs)QQ370, also known as network interface cards, which include physicalnetwork interface QQ380. Each hardware device may also includenon-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media QQ390-2having stored therein software QQ395 and/or instructions executable byprocessing circuitry QQ360. Software QQ395 may include any type ofsoftware including software for instantiating one or more virtualizationlayers QQ350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to executevirtual machines QQ340 as well as software allowing it to executefunctions, features and/or benefits described in relation with someembodiments described herein.

Virtual machines QQ340, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory,virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by acorresponding virtualization layer QQ350 or hypervisor. Differentembodiments of the instance of virtual appliance QQ320 may beimplemented on one or more of virtual machines QQ340, and theimplementations may be made in different ways.

During operation, processing circuitry QQ360 executes software QQ395 toinstantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer QQ350, which maysometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM).Virtualization layer QQ350 may present a virtual operating platform thatappears like networking hardware to virtual machine QQ340.

As shown in FIG. 21, hardware QQ330 may be a standalone network nodewith generic or specific components. Hardware QQ330 may comprise antennaQQ3225 and may implement some functions via virtualization.Alternatively, hardware QQ330 may be part of a larger cluster ofhardware (e.g. such as in a data center or customer premise equipment(CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed viamanagement and orchestration (MANO) QQ3100, which, among others,oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ320.

Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to asnetwork function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidatemany network equipment types onto industry standard high volume serverhardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be locatedin data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, virtual machine QQ340 may be a softwareimplementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they wereexecuting on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtualmachines QQ340, and that part of hardware QQ330 that executes thatvirtual machine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/orhardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtualmachines QQ340, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).

Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) isresponsible for handling specific network functions that run in one ormore virtual machines QQ340 on top of hardware networking infrastructureQQ330 and corresponds to application QQ320 in FIG. 21.

In some embodiments, one or more radio units QQ3200 that each includeone or more transmitters QQ3220 and one or more receivers QQ3210 may becoupled to one or more antennas QQ3225. Radio units QQ3200 maycommunicate directly with hardware nodes QQ330 via one or moreappropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with thevirtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities,such as a radio access node or a base station.

In some embodiments, some signaling can be effected with the use ofcontrol system QQ3230 which may alternatively be used for communicationbetween the hardware nodes QQ330 and radio units QQ3200.

FIG. 22: Telecommunication network connected via an intermediate networkto a host computer in accordance with some embodiments.

With reference to FIG. 22, in accordance with an embodiment, acommunication system includes telecommunication network QQ410, such as a3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network QQ411, suchas a radio access network, and core network QQ414. Access network QQ411comprises a plurality of base stations QQ412 a, QQ412 b, QQ412 c, suchas NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, eachdefining a corresponding coverage area QQ413 a, QQ413 b, QQ413 c. Eachbase station QQ412 a, QQ412 b, QQ412 c is connectable to core networkQQ414 over a wired or wireless connection QQ415. A first UE QQ491located in coverage area QQ413 c is configured to wirelessly connect to,or be paged by, the corresponding base station QQ412 c. A second UEQQ492 in coverage area QQ413 a is wirelessly connectable to thecorresponding base station QQ412 a. While a plurality of UEs QQ491,QQ492 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments areequally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coveragearea or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base stationQQQQ412.

Telecommunication network QQ410 is itself connected to host computerQQ430, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of astandalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server oras processing resources in a server farm. Host computer QQ430 may beunder the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operatedby the service provider or on behalf of the service provider.Connections QQ421 and QQ422 between telecommunication network QQ410 andhost computer QQ430 may extend directly from core network QQ414 to hostcomputer QQ430 or may go via an optional intermediate network QQ420.Intermediate network QQ420 may be one of, or a combination of more thanone of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network QQ420,if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular,intermediate network QQ420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (notshown).

The communication system of FIG. 22 as a whole enables connectivitybetween the connected UEs QQ491, QQ492 and host computer QQ430. Theconnectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ450.Host computer QQ430 and the connected UEs QQ491, QQ492 are configured tocommunicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection QQ450, using accessnetwork QQ411, core network QQ414, any intermediate network QQ420 andpossible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTTconnection QQ450 may be transparent in the sense that the participatingcommunication devices through which OTT connection QQ450 passes areunaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example,base station QQ412 may not or need not be informed about the pastrouting of an incoming downlink communication with data originating fromhost computer QQ430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connectedUE QQ491. Similarly, base station QQ412 need not be aware of the futurerouting of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UEQQ491 towards the host computer QQ430.

FIG. 23: Host computer communicating via a base station with a userequipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with someembodiments.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE,base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphswill now be described with reference to FIG. 23. In communication systemQQ500, host computer QQ510 comprises hardware QQ515 includingcommunication interface QQ516 configured to set up and maintain a wiredor wireless connection with an interface of a different communicationdevice of communication system QQ500. Host computer QQ510 furthercomprises processing circuitry QQ518, which may have storage and/orprocessing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry QQ518 maycomprise one or more programmable processors, application-specificintegrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations ofthese (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer QQ510further comprises software QQ511, which is stored in or accessible byhost computer QQ510 and executable by processing circuitry QQ518.Software QQ511 includes host application QQ512. Host application QQ512may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE QQ530connecting via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and hostcomputer QQ510. In providing the service to the remote user, hostapplication QQ512 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTTconnection QQ550.

Communication system QQ500 further includes base station QQ520 providedin a telecommunication system and comprising hardware QQ525 enabling itto communicate with host computer QQ510 and with UE QQ530. HardwareQQ525 may include communication interface QQ526 for setting up andmaintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of adifferent communication device of communication system QQ500, as well asradio interface QQ527 for setting up and maintaining at least wirelessconnection QQ570 with UE QQ530 located in a coverage area (not shown inFIG. 5) served by base station QQ520. Communication interface QQ526 maybe configured to facilitate connection QQ560 to host computer QQ510.Connection QQ560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network(not shown in FIG. 5) of the telecommunication system and/or through oneor more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. Inthe embodiment shown, hardware QQ525 of base station QQ520 furtherincludes processing circuitry QQ528, which may comprise one or moreprogrammable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, fieldprogrammable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted toexecute instructions. Base station QQ520 further has software QQ521stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system QQ500 further includes UE QQ530 already referredto. Its hardware QQ535 may include radio interface QQ537 configured toset up and maintain wireless connection QQ570 with a base stationserving a coverage area in which UE QQ530 is currently located. HardwareQQ535 of UE QQ530 further includes processing circuitry QQ538, which maycomprise one or more programmable processors, application-specificintegrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations ofthese (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. UE QQ530 furthercomprises software QQ531, which is stored in or accessible by UE QQ530and executable by processing circuitry QQ538. Software QQ531 includesclient application QQ532. Client application QQ532 may be operable toprovide a service to a human or non-human user via UE QQ530, with thesupport of host computer QQ510. In host computer QQ510, an executinghost application QQ512 may communicate with the executing clientapplication QQ532 via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 andhost computer QQ510. In providing the service to the user, clientapplication QQ532 may receive request data from host application QQ512and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connectionQQ550 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Clientapplication QQ532 may interact with the user to generate the user datathat it provides.

It is noted that host computer QQ510, base station QQ520 and UE QQ530illustrated in FIG. 23 may be similar or identical to host computerQQ430, one of base stations QQ412 a, QQ412 b, QQ412 c and one of UEsQQ491, QQ492 of FIG. 22, respectively. This is to say, the innerworkings of these entities may be as shown in FIG. 23 and independently,the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 22.

In FIG. 23, OTT connection QQ550 has been drawn abstractly to illustratethe communication between host computer QQ510 and UE QQ530 via basestation QQ520, without explicit reference to any intermediary devicesand the precise routing of messages via these devices. Networkinfrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured tohide from UE QQ530 or from the service provider operating host computerQQ510, or both. While OTT connection QQ550 is active, the networkinfrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamicallychanges the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing considerationor reconfiguration of the network).

Wireless connection QQ570 between UE QQ530 and base station QQ520 is inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments may improve theperformance of OTT services provided to UE QQ530 using OTT connectionQQ550, in which wireless connection QQ570 forms the last segment. Moreprecisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the deblockfiltering for video processing and thereby provide benefits such asimproved video encoding and/or decoding.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoringdata rate, latency and other factors on which the one or moreembodiments improve. There may further be an optional networkfunctionality for reconfiguring OTT connection QQ550 between hostcomputer QQ510 and UE QQ530, in response to variations in themeasurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the networkfunctionality for reconfiguring OTT connection QQ550 may be implementedin software QQ511 and hardware QQ515 of host computer QQ510 or insoftware QQ531 and hardware 535 of UE QQ530, or both. In embodiments,sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association withcommunication devices through which OTT connection QQ550 passes; thesensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying valuesof the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values ofother physical quantities from which software QQ511, QQ531 may computeor estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTTconnection QQ550 may include message format, retransmission settings,preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base stationQQ520, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station QQ520.Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in theart. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UEsignaling facilitating host computer QQ510's measurements of throughput,propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may beimplemented in that software QQ511 and QQ531 causes messages to betransmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTTconnection QQ550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

FIG. 24: Methods implemented in a communication system including a hostcomputer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 22 and 23. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 24will be included in this section. In step QQ610, the host computerprovides user data. In substep 611 (which may be optional) of stepQQ610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a hostapplication. In step QQ620, the host computer initiates a transmissioncarrying the user data to the UE. In step QQ630 (which may be optional),the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried inthe transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance withthe teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.In step QQ640 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a clientapplication associated with the host application executed by the hostcomputer.

FIG. 25: Methods implemented in a communication system including a hostcomputer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 22 and 23. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 25will be included in this section. In step QQ710 of the method, the hostcomputer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the hostcomputer provides the user data by executing a host application. In stepQQ720, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user datato the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordancewith the teachings of the embodiments described throughout thisdisclosure. In step QQ730 (which may be optional), the UE receives theuser data carried in the transmission.

FIG. 26: Methods implemented in a communication system including a hostcomputer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 22 and 23. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 26will be included in this section. In step QQ810 (which may be optional),the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionallyor alternatively, in step QQ820, the UE provides user data. In substepQQ821 (which may be optional) of step QQ820, the UE provides the userdata by executing a client application. In substep QQ811 (which may beoptional) of step QQ810, the UE executes a client application whichprovides the user data in reaction to the received input data providedby the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed clientapplication may further consider user input received from the user.Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided,the UE initiates, in substep QQ830 (which may be optional), transmissionof the user data to the host computer. In step QQ840 of the method, thehost computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure.

FIG. 27: Methods implemented in a communication system including a hostcomputer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 22 and 23. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 27will be included in this section. In step QQ910 (which may be optional),in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. Instep QQ920 (which may be optional), the base station initiatestransmission of the received user data to the host computer. In stepQQ930 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user datacarried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefitsdisclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional unitsor modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatusmay comprise a number of these functional units. These functional unitsmay be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one ormore microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digitalhardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs),special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitrymay be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which mayinclude one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM),random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, opticalstorage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes programinstructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or datacommunications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one ormore of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, theprocessing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unitto perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics,electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, forexample, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules,processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices,computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks,procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and soon, as such as those that are described herein.

1. A method of operating a user equipment, the method comprising:communicating with a first system via a radio access network; andincreasing a frequency at which a Global Navigation Satellite SystemGNSS is accessed responsive to the user equipment entering a dangerousarea, the dangerous area corresponding to an area that includes avehicle operating therein, wherein an increase in GNSS access frequencyprovides an increased location data.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising sending, to a first system, a request for radio resources toprovide the increased location data relative to data that was providedbefore increasing the frequency at which the GNSS was accessed.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising activating the dangerous arearesponsive to receiving a notification.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the notification is received from a vehicle user equipment orwherein the notification is received from the first system.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising sending a notification to avehicle user equipment.
 6. (canceled)
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, from the first system, a first configurationmessage corresponding to the dangerous area; and activating thedangerous area and increasing a reporting granularity corresponding to alocation of the user equipment in response to receiving the firstconfiguration message.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, from the first system, a second configuration messagecorresponding to the dangerous area; and deactivating the dangerous areaand decreasing a reporting granularity corresponding to a location ofthe user equipment in response to receiving the second configurationmessage.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising increasing afrequency that the global navigation satellite system GNSS is accessedresponsive to receiving first configuration message.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, further comprising decreasing a frequency that a GNSS isaccessed responsive to receiving a second configuration message.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the first system,predefined dangerous zones that include the dangerous area, whereinreceiving the predefined dangerous zones is performed using low prioritydata transfers for the user equipment to preload the predefineddangerous zones.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein a size of anactivated portion of the predefined dangerous zones is based on a speedof the vehicle.
 13. A user equipment comprising: a transceiver that isconfigured to communicate with a first system via a radio accessnetwork; and a processor that is coupled to the transceiver and that isconfigured to perform operations comprising: increasing a frequency atwhich a Global Navigation Satellite System GNSS is accessed responsiveto the user equipment being proximate to and/or entering a dangerousarea, the dangerous area corresponding to an area that includes avehicle operating therein, wherein an increase in GNSS access frequencyprovides an increased location data.
 14. (canceled)
 15. A method ofoperating a network node, the method comprising: communicating, using afirst network application, with a user equipment, to cause the userequipment to activate a dangerous area and to increase a reportinggranularity corresponding to a location of the user equipment, thedangerous area corresponding to an area that includes a vehicleoperating therein, the reporting granularity is increased relative to afirst reporting granularity; receiving, from the user equipment,location reporting data that is provided at the increased granularity;and communicating, between the first network application and a secondnetwork application, a first notification that corresponds todetermining that the user equipment will be in the dangerous area, thesecond network application being configured to send a vehiclenotification to the vehicle to avoid a collision.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising determining, by the first networkapplication, coarse location data of the user equipment using networkonly measurements, wherein the network only measurements comprise:reference signal received power measurements from surroundingcommunication network cells or beamformed reference signals from one ormore base stations. 17-20. (canceled)
 21. A method of operating a firstsystem, the method comprising: sending, to a user equipment, anactivation notification that activates a dangerous area and causes theuser equipment to increase a reporting granularity corresponding to alocation of the user equipment, the dangerous area corresponding to anarea that includes a vehicle operating therein, wherein the vehiclecomprises a vulnerable road user thus the reporting granularity isincreased relative to a first reporting granularity; receiving, from theuser equipment, location reporting data that is provided at theincreased granularity; and sending, to a second system, a firstnotification that corresponds to determining that the VRU will be in thedangerous area.
 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising, beforesending the first notification to the second system, anonymizing thefirst notification to remove VRU specific data therefrom, wherein ananonymized first notification is sent to the vehicle via the secondsystem.
 23. The method of claim 21, further comprising sending a secondconfiguration message to the user equipment that causes the userequipment to deactivate a previously identified dangerous area and todecrease a reporting granularity corresponding to a location of the userequipment.
 24. The method of claim 21, wherein a first configurationmessage further causes the user equipment to increase a frequency thatthe global navigation satellite system GNSS is accessed, and wherein thesecond configuration message further causes the user equipment todecrease a frequency that the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)is accessed.
 25. (canceled)
 26. The method of claim 21, wherein sending,to the user equipment, the activation notification that activates thedangerous area is performed responsive to detecting that the userequipment is proximate the dangerous area and that conditionscorresponding to activating the dangerous area are present, whereinconditions include information corresponding to the vehicle.
 27. Themethod of claim 21, further comprising sending a second configurationmessage to the user equipment that causes the user equipment todeactivate a previously identified dangerous area and to decrease areporting granularity corresponding to a location of the user equipmentin response to detecting that the user equipment is not proximate thedangerous area. 28-44. (canceled)